142 Anna De Matos – igniting circular communities

Circular Economy Podcast

Anna De Matos is the founder of several community-focused sharing initiatives, and a force of nature.

Originally from Brazil, Anna De Matos went to university in the UK and moved to Iceland in 2017. Inspired by a visit to Toronto’s tool library, Anna started a tool library and repair café, and managed to bootstrap and crowdfund her way to establishing these – all whilst dealing with the serious challenges of autoimmune disease.

Anna has degrees in Conservation and Restoration and is now channelling her skills and experience into helping people conserve and restore their things. She founded the Munasafn RVK Tool Library to promote shared resource use and has organized numerous repair café events, fostering a culture of repair and reuse within Icelandic communities.

Anna’s skills go beyond organising and bringing people together, and she’s also created a technology add-on to MyTurn’s Library of Things software to provide a self-service kiosk option for Libraries of Things.

Anna’s hands-on experience in running these initiatives provides her with unique insights into the practical needs of communities, which she has channeled into the creation of the Circular Library Network (CLN), helping communities around the world manage their own “libraries of things,” promoting sustainability through shared access to essential items – so we can all get more, from less.

Anna’s story is inspiring, and fascinating, with many forks in the road that led her to what she’s doing now.

International speaker, author and strategic advisor, Catherine Weetman helps people discover why circular, regenerative and fair solutions are better for people, planet – and prosperity.

Catherine’s award-winning book: A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business includes lots of practical examples and tips on getting started.

Stay in touch for free insights and updates…

Read on for more on our guest and links to the people, organisations and other resources we mention.

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You can also use our interactive, searchable podcast index to find episodes by sector, by region or by circular strategy. Plus, there is now a regular Circular Economy Podcast newsletter, so you get the latest episode show notes and links delivered to your inbox on Sunday morning, each fortnight. The newsletter includes a link to the episode page on our website, with an audio player. You can subscribe by clicking this link to update your preferences.

Links we mention in the episode:

Links for our guest:

• circularlibrary.network
• munasafn.is
• hringrasarseturislands.org/
• linkedin.com/in/annacwdematos/
• linkedin.com/company/circularlibrarynetwork
• Instagram: @reddingakaffi @rvktoollibrary @circularlibrarynetwork

Books, people and organisations we mentioned

• Episode 105 – Gene Homicki: getting more from less with MyTurn. Gene Homicki founded MyTurn, a B2B software platform transforming your idle equipment into value with rental, lending & product subscriptions https://www.rethinkglobal.info/105-gene-homicki-getting-more-from-less-with-myturn/

Catherine’s work:

• Circular Economy Podcast on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/showcase/circular-economy-podcast/
• Circular Economy Podcast website: circulareconomypodcast.com
• Catherine Weetman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-weetman-9419107/
• A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business – buy from any good bookseller, or direct from the publisher Kogan Page, which ships worldwide (free shipping to UK and US) https://www.koganpage.com/CircEcon2
• Interactive podcast index https://www.rethinkglobal.info/circular-economy-podcast-index/
• Rethink Global www.rethinkglobal.info
• Sign up to get the podcast player and shownotes for each new episode emailed to your inbox

Guest bio

Anna C W De Matos is the CEO and Founder of the Circular Library Network (CLN) and Munasafn RVK Tool Library, driven by a passion for sustainability and community empowerment. She founded the Munasafn RVK Tool Library to promote shared resource use and has organized numerous repair café events, fostering a culture of repair and reuse within Icelandic communities. Her hands-on experience in running these initiatives provides her with unique insights into the practical needs of communities, which she has channeled into the creation of CLN.

Under her leadership, a infrastructure provider for sharing economy. CLN is helping communities around the world manage their own “libraries of things,” promoting sustainability through shared access to essential items.

Playlist: getting started with the circular economy…

Want to know more about the what the circular economy really is, and how it can help your business? Here’s a playlist to help you get to grips with the concept, how it creates value, and the common myths (spoiler alert – it’s much more than recycling!)

• #1 What is the circular economy: A quick intro to explain what the circular economy is and why it’s important. We explore how it helps create better products and services, and at the same time helps to make a better world. I break it down into my 5 circular economy components, helping you think about each part of your business.
• #2 The linear economy and your risk checklist: We dig a bit deeper into the way we do business now, the linear economy, and why that’s creating problems for business, society and our living planet. Also, we’ll look at the risks that emerge from those big-picture issues, and how they might affect your organisation.
• #90 Does circular mean it’s sustainable? Catherine Weetman is worried that companies are using circular economy solutions to grow their business (and their footprints).
• #101 Circular is better for people, planet and profit! How three simple strategies can help you get started with circular and regenerative solutions that are better for people, planet and profit.
• #120 Priorities are changing: people find life is better when we care for and share things – circular economy strategies make that better for business, too.

And here’s Catherine’s guide: What is the circular economy?

Want to dig deeper?

Why not buy Catherine’s award-winning book, A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business. This comprehensive guide uses a bottom-up, practical approach, and includes hundreds of real examples from around the world, to help you really ‘get’ the circular economy. Even better, you’ll be inspired with ideas to make your own business more competitive, resilient and sustainable.

Please let us know what you think of the podcast – and we’d love it if you could leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever you find your podcasts. Or send us an email…

Please let us know what you think of the podcast – and we’d love it if you could leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever you find your podcasts. Or send us an email…

Podcast music

Thanks to Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow, otherwise known as the brilliant, inventive and generous folk duo, O’Hooley & Tidow for allowing me to use the instrumentals from the live version of Summat’s Brewin’ as music for the podcast. You can find the whole track (inspired by the Copper Family song “Oh Good Ale”) on their album, also called Summat’s Brewin’. Or, follow them on Twitter.

Previous episodes….

141 Joel Tasche: scaleable solutions to plastic pollution

22nd September 2024

Circular economy

enablers

plastics

recycling

social value
Joel Tasche founded CleanHub, a Berlin-based company that provides a scalable solution to plastic pollution. CleanHub connects coastal communities to proper waste collection in places where that doesn’t exist, at the same time creating safe and dignified jobs. Brands can support the mission by funding the collection of waste that otherwise wouldn’t be collected. CleanHub accepts ALL types of plastic…

140 Catherine Weetman: focusing on fuel AND friction

8th September 2024

behaviour

Circular economy

regenerative

strategy

systems thinking
Are we focused on adding more fuel to get the circular economy going – when, really, the problem is too much friction? Those terms stuck with me a few years ago, from a book helping people to get new ideas going, and succeeding, by looking more closely at the ‘frictions’ that create resistance. The book, The Human Element is written…

139 Peter McCafferty: supporting circular businesses

25th August 2024

Circular economy

social value

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Peter McCafferty works on Zero Waste Scotland’s Circular Economy Business Support Service (CEBS). These services were launched back in 2017, and since then, Peter has worked with over 200 SMEs and large organisations, so he’s got a wealth of experience and insights to share with us, especially on the fuel and friction around the circular economy. Zero Waste Scotland is…

138 Rubén Abruña: keeping our poop in the loop

11th August 2024

agriculture

Circular economy

construction

regenerative

systems thinking
Award-winning documentary film maker Rubén Abruña helps us dig into one of the oldest problems in civil society… All around the world, there are serious problems caused by the various ways we deal with our toilet waste – all the poop and pee we humans create every day. We waste drinking water – Flushing toilets use massive amounts of water…

137 Dr Martin Stuchtey: rethinking how we invest in nature

28th July 2024

agriculture

regeneration

systems thinking
Prof. Dr. Martin Stuchtey – a geologist, economist and entrepreneur – is challenging and helping to rethink industrial, farming and economic systems. He founded The Landbanking Group, a Nature Fintech aiming to bring natural capital onto our balance sheets in service of the Paris and Montreal agreements. Dr. Martin Stuchtey is a former Senior and Managing Partner at McKinsey &…

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